A Smooth Mix To Celebrate 2 Years Of M&J!

Yes kids, straight after the 500.000 hits celebration, here we are with another one: it’s our Birthday! 2 Years of MusicSelections with your fav selectors, Martini & Jopparelli!

To do celebrations properly, i’ve prepared a little present for ya. A 40 min mix of Smooth Jazz, Breaks, Funk and Soundtracks straight from my crates. It’s mostly classic stuff: if you’re down with this blog you know the names very well. I tried to suggest a sort of cinematic mood in putting togehter the songs. Relax and listen, I hope you like it. Let’s go with the tracklist:

Intro – skit. I took this one from a recent record, but I won’t tell you which!

Theme From Hong Kong Beat [BBC]. This is an old TV theme from BBC. It’s simple but groovy, a good intro.

Jimmy Lindsay – Ain’t No Sunshine [White Label]. One of the hundreds of versions around, this one’s particular because it starts as a soul tune, then suddenly becomes reggae at a certain point. Do you feel it? We do, absolutely.

Joe Zawinul – In a Silent Way [Atlantic] . Listen how a Jazz master can take you into the deep space in a few seconds. Peep the equipment in this picture!

Joe Simon – Drowning In The Sea Of Love [BGP]. A Classic break, a gorgeous song and a voice that has no equal. Deep, deep soul.

CTI All stars – Inner City Blues/What’s Going On [CTI]- A medley of two super famous themes performed by no one less than all the best CTI musician together in an historic concert in 1972.

Faze-O – Riding High [Warner]. Sampled magistrally by the Beatminerz for Black Moon’s legendary album, this tune is very good even in the original version, a sort of spaced-out funk tune that demonstrates how to use synth sounds properly.

Billy Cobham – Heather [Atlantic]. My fav track of the session, it’s the sample used in “93 Til Infinity” by the mighty Souls Of Mischief. An introspective trip, as Mr. Martini said when he listened this one for the very first time.

Ronnie foster – Mystic Brew [Blue Note]. From the Blue Note crates, here’s the sample used in “Electric Relaxation”, one of my fav hip hop tunes of all times.

Ronnie Laws – Tidal Wave [Blue Note]. From Black Moon, to Tribe, again to Black Moon. Hey Jopparelli, please be more original! The fact is that this song is too nice.

Courtney Pine – Children Of The Ghetto [Island]. One of the songs that introduced me to soul music a lot of years ago. Fallin in love with this style was automatic.

Azymuth – Partido Alto [Milestone]. Recently re-brought to the masses’ attention by Madlib, this group really had some to say in funk music. Pay attention to the rhytmic patterns inside this one. Extraordinaire.

Bill Conti – Reflections [Sound Score Corp.]. Mr. Bill Conti, the master who made the infamous Rocky Theme. This from the same movie, but it’s a slow jam. Brilliant, isn’t it?

Johnny Guitar Watson – Superman Lover [DJM]. This needs no introduction, some great samples inside this one: Lady Of Rage’s Afro Puffs (remember that?), Mad Skillz, Ice Cube’s The Predator and of course the one and only Supaman Lova…

David Axelrod & David McCullum – The Edge [Blue Note]. Another Blue Note production, of course Dre owns a lot of his recent career to this stuff. The funny thing about this tune is that when you play it everybody expect it’s the Dre tune and make a dumb face when they realize it’s not.

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